A top and a ball were lying together in a drawer among a lot
of other toys. The top said to the ball, "Since we live in the
same drawer, we ought to be sweethearts."

But the ball, which was covered with a morocco
leather, and thought as much of itself as any fine lady, would
not even answer such a proposal.

The next day the little boy to whom the top belonged
took it out, painted it red and yellow, and drove a brass nail
into it; so that the top looked very elegant when it was spinning
around.

"Look at me!" it said to the ball. "What do you think?
Shall we be sweethearts now? We are just made for each other! You
bounce and I dance. None could be happier than we two."

"That's what you think!" said the ball. "You
evidently don't realize that my father and my mother were a
pair of morocco slippers, and that I have a cork in my body!"

"Yes, but I am made of mahogany!" said the top. "The
mayor himself turned me on his own lathe and had a lot of fun
doing it."

"Am I supposed to believe that?" said the ball.

"May I never be whipped again if I'm lying!"
answered the top.

"You speak very well for yourself, but I'm
afraid it's impossible. I'm almost engaged to a
swallow. Whenever I bounce up in the air, it puts its head out of
its nest and says, 'Will you be mine? Will you be mine?' And to
myself I've always said 'Yes.' But I promise I shall never
forget you."

"That will do me a lot of good," said the top, and
that ended their conversation right then and there!

The next day the ball was taken out, and the top saw
her flying high up into the air, just like a bird; so high that
you could hardly see her. And every time she came back, she
bounced up again, as soon as she touched the ground. That was
either because she was longing for the swallow or because she had
cork in her body. At the ninth bounce the ball disappeared; the
boy looked and looked, but it was gone. The top sighed; "I know
where she is: she's in the swallow's nest and has married the
swallow."

The more the top thought of this, the more infatuated
he became with the ball. Just because he couldn't have her,
his love for her increased, but, alas! she was in love with
somebody else. The top danced and spun, and in his thoughts the
ball became more and more beautiful.

Many years went by - it was now an old love affair.
The top was no longer young. But one day he was gilded all over;
never had he looked so beautiful. He was now a golden top, and he
leaped and spun till he hummed. This certainly was something. But
suddenly he jumped too high, and disappeared! They looked and
looked, even down in the cellar, but he was not to be found.
Where was he? He had jumped into the dustbin, where all sorts of
rubbish was lying-old cabbage stalks, dust, dirt, and gravel that
had fallen down through the gutter.

"What a place to land in! Here my gilding will soon
disappear. And what kind of riffraff am I with?" he mumbled, as
he glared at a long, scrawny-looking cabbage stalk and at a
strange round thing that looked like an apple. But it
wasn't an apple-it was an old ball that for years had been
lying in the roof gutter and was soaked through with water.

"Thank goodness! At last I have an equal to talk to!"
said the ball, looking at the golden top. "I want you to know
that I am made of morocco leather, sewn by maiden hands, and that
I have a cork in my body; but no one will think so now! I almost
married a swallow, but I landed in the roof gutter instead, and
there I have been for the last five years, soaked! That's a
long time, believe me, for a young lady."

But the top said nothing. He thought of his old
sweetheart, and the more he listened, the more certain he felt it
was she. Just then the housemaid came to throw some rubbish in
the dustbin.

"Why," she cried, "here's the golden top!"

And the top was carried back into the living room and
admired by everybody. But the ball was never heard of again. The
top never spoke a word about his old sweetheart, for love
vanishes when one's sweetheart has been soaking in a roof
gutter for five years. Yes, you don't even recognize her
when you meet her in a dustbin.